Articulated cars



Oct. 21, 1958 H. J. HARBULAK ARTICULATED CARS Filed March 5, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

Harry J. Horbuluk ATTORNEYS Oct. 21, 1958 H. J. HARBULAK 2,356,864

ARTICULATED CARS Filed March 3, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Harry J. Horbuluk BY ATTORNEYS II III FIG? United States Patent ARTICULATED CARS Application March 3, 1955, Serial No. 491,906

11 Claims. (Cl. 105-4) The present invention relates to railway cars in general and in particular to articulated cars intended for mine or industrial haulage.

The majority of railway cars are mounted on individual trucks at each end, thus the number of trucks in a train is always two times the number of cars. This is expensive and the expense can, in certain cases, be reduced by articulating the cars so that the number of trucks in a train is only the number of cars plus one. In mine and industrial haulage the tendency has been toward greater capacity cars and these cars must be made as cheaply as possible in order to compete with other types of haulage. In order to provide the necessary movement between the car bodies, it is necessary to provide for longitudinal movement and turning movements. It is also necessary for the supporting trucks to be properly guided or controlled.

It is an object, therefore, of the present invention to provide a train composed of articulated cars having the bodies spaced apart and supported by trucks located at the space between the bodies.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a train of articulated car bodies connected together by resilient coupling means permitting rotational and sliding movement between the bodies and between the bodies and supporting truck.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a train of articulated car bodies, which bodies are coupled together by a combined center pin and coupling pin which is resiliently held centered between the car bodies.

A yet further object of the invention is the provision of a train of articulated car bodies, each body and truck of which is provided with interengaging resilient means controlling the truck movements.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from a study of the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a three-car train.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view partly in section to show the connection between the car bodies.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view showing the relation of the supporting and connecting parts under buff conditions.

Fig. 5 is a plan view showing a supporting truck and further showing certain body parts in section.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 66'of Fig. 5, and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 7-7 of Fig. 5.

Referring now to the drawings in detail it will be seen that the train is composed of any desired number of bodies such as A, B and C supported on trucks T located at the ends of the train and at the spaces between the bodies. Each body is preferably made with sides 2 joined by suitable floor structure and by sloping end walls 4. These sloping end walls are supported on an I beam bolster 6 having the upper flange tipped by bending the web so thatthe flange is parallel to the sloping floor 4. In order to stiffen the bolster it is braced internally by vertically extending braces 8 and externally by buttress plates 10 certain of which are inclined inwardly toward the center of the car. These buttress plates 10 are welded or otherwise secured to a center bearing support means constituted by a roughly triangular shaped supporting plate 12 extending beneath and rigidly attached to the bottom of the body bolster. These supporting plates extend laterally outward from the body bolster and have their central portion pierced to provide longitudinally elongated slots 14. Each supporting plate: is also provided with a downwardly extending projection 16 located substantially on the center line of the car and projecting.

downwardly sufiicient to be in the path of movement of the supporting truck T.

The bolster web is preferably pierced substantially on the longitudinal center line and is bushed as at 18 to receive a coupling shank or drawbar 20. The inner ends of the shanks are threaded to receive a nut and washer assembly 22 by means of which the resilient springs 24.

. be seen that the supporting truck T is provided with two:

axles 30 mounted on wheels W adapted to run on rails R. Box section side frames 32 are mounted on,the axles inboard of the wheels and through springs 34 support the truck bolster 36. This bolster is formed with a large fiat top plate 38 resting on springs 34 and extending laterally outward for attachment to an angle 40 forming the side bearing of the car truck. The truck bolster is centrally reinforced by downwardly projecting channel member 42 adapted to engage and be guided by the sides of the truck frames 32 during the vertical movement permitted by the springs 34. These channels 42 are connected at their ends by transverse structures 44 which in turn are braced to the bolster center part by plates 46. These plates 46 have mounted thereon resilient buffer members 48, the inner ends of which are adapted to engage the projections 16 formed on the car body. These resilient buffers are preferably made of stacked rubber units slightly precompressed by the entrance of projection 16 therebetween and acting to control the truck movements. It will be seen that if the train or cars are on a curve the units on one side of the projections will be compressed equal amounts and the truck will follow the curve in its normal manner. If the truck is leaving the curve and entering tangent track the trailing resilient unit will be compressed thereby tending to straighten the truck as it enters the tangent track. Vibrational or hunting movements of the truck will be prevented by the damping action of the stacked rubber buffer units positioned on either side of the body.

projections.

As shown, particularly in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 the support ing plates 12 of each car are supported by the truck bolster 36. In normal condition the elongated slots 14 are in alignment and positioned above a central hole 50 formed in the bolster top plate 38. A combined coupling pin and center pin 52 is adapted to extend vertically through truck bolster hole 50, elongated slots 14 and holes 54 formed in the jaws and eye of the coupling. This pin will, through the coupling shanks, transmit all buff and draft while holding the car bodies for rotation about the center of the truck. Sliding movements will Patented Oct. 21, 1958 be permitted between the car bodies and between the bodies and trucks due to the elongated slots 14.- In other words, when bodies A and B move toward each other under buff forces the parts will assume the position as shown in Fig. 4. When it is desired to remove a car body from the train, it is only necessary to lift the combined coupling and center pin, after which the adjacent end of the body to be removed is supported on suitable jacks or other lifting device and the adjacent body pulled outof position. ends of the train are duplicates of the trucks between the car bodies and can be coupled to the locomotive or haulage cable by means of a coupling. link- 60 (Fig. which has its inner end engaged by the combined coupling and center pin 52. Fromthe preceding it will beseen that the train is extremely flexible with each body being rotatable with respect to each other and to the truck and also longitudinally slidable. It will also be seen that each truck, whether mounted between the car bodies or at the ends of the train, has its movement guided and controlled by the resilient butters and body projections.

While the' invention has been described more or less in detail with specific reference to the drawings, it will be obvious that various modifications and rearrangements of parts may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railway car the combination of a body member, downwardly and inwardly sloping ends on the body, body bolsters mounted beneath and supporting the sloping ends, acenter bearing support connected to the bolster and extending longitudinally outward from the bolster toward the end of the car, a truck member including a truck bolster rotatably supporting said center bearing support at a point outwardly removed from the body bolster.

2. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that said body bolster carries a drawbar resiliently connected thereto and having its outer end located above the point of rotational support.

'3. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that said center bearing support is longitudinally slotted at its outer end, and in that said body bolster carries a drawbar resiliently connected thereto and having its outer end located above the slot in the center bearing support.

4. In an articulated car the combination of spaced bodies, a truck located at the space between the bodies, means supporting the bodies on the truck, a resiliently mounted coupling means on each car, and a combined coupling pin and center pin joining said coupling means, support means and truck.

5. The structureof claim 4 characterized in that saidsupporting means is formed with longitudinally elongated slots whereby said bodies may move longitudinally with respect to each other and the supporting truck.

6; The structure of claim 4 characterized in that the bodies and truck are formed with interengaging means controlling rotation of the truck about the center pin.

7. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that a projection extends from one of said members towards the other of said members, and resilient elements are carried by said other of said members and engage each sideof'said projection to resist rotation of the truck.

8. An articulated car Comprising a pair of spaced bodies, a truck at each end of the car, a central truck located The supporting trucks at the extreme at the space between the bodies, each truck comprising a bolster and each body. comprising a bolster adjacent. each end of said body, a center bearing support connected to each body bolster and projecting longitudinally outwardly therefrom and having an end portion resting on the adjacent truck bolster, said end portion being formed with a longitudinally elongated slot, a drawbar resiliently mounted at each end of each body and extending in parallel spaced relation to said center bearing support and a combined coupling and center pin extending vertically through the adjacent drawbars and elongated slots and into the truck bolster, whereby said supports, drawbars and truck bolster are joined and said bodies may rotate and slide longitudinally relative to each other under control of the drawbars.

9. In an articulated car according to claim 8, said body bolster being a modified I beam and having a web, and said drawbar extending through said web and comprising resilient means located on each side of said web.

10. An articulated car comprising a pair of spaced bodies, a truck at each end of the car, a central truck located at the space between the bodies, a bolster carried by each truck, supports projecting longitudinally from the ends of each body and supported by the adjacent bolster, longitudinally elongated slots formed in each of said supports, a drawbar resiliently mounted at each end of each body, and a combined coupling and center pin extending vertically through the adjacent drawbars and elongated slots and into the truck bolster whereby said supports, drawbars and truck bolster are joined and said bodies may rotate and slide longitudinally relative to each other under control of the drawbars, each of said bodies having a projection formed at each end thereof and extending downwardly therefrom and said trucks having resilient members engaging each side of said projections to resist rotation of said trucks.

11. An articulated car comprising a pair of spaced bodies, a truck at each end of the car, a central truck located at the space between the bodies, a bolster carried by each truck, supports projecting longitudinally from the ends of each body and supported by the adjacent bolster, longitudinally elongated slots formed in each of said supports, a drawbar resiliently mounted at each end of each body, and a combined coupling and center pin extending vertically through the adjacent drawbars and elongated slots and into the truck bolster whereby said supports, drawbars and truck bolster are joined andsaid bodies may rotate and slide longitudinally relative to each other under control of the drawbars, a projection formed at each end of each body substantially on the longitudinal center line and extending downwardly into" the path of rotation of the adjacent truck, and resilient members mounted on each truck on either side of the projection to limit rotation of the truck relative to the bodies.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 46,784 Driggs Mar. 14, 1865 1,459,250 Pfiager June 1.9, 1923 1,796,347 Sanford Mar. 17, 1931 2,153,389 Perkins Apr. 4, 1939 2,274,471 Breer Feb. 24, 1942 2,676,550 Burdick Apr. 27, 1-954 2,705,926 Burdick Apr. 12, 1955 2,708,887 Van Alstine May 14, 1955 

